Union rights among 6 ballot measures before voters

DETROIT (AP) -- Michigan voters will be heard Tuesday on a labor-backed proposal to guarantee union bargaining rights in the state constitution and strengthen the position of municipal workers even as some deficit-plagued cities look to roll back previously negotiated pay and benefits.

The proposal is among six on the ballot and five that would amend the state constitution. Others include a referendum on the state's sweeping emergency manager law and a call for a statewide vote to approve state funding of any new international bridges or tunnels between Michigan and Canada.

The collective bargaining measure, Proposal 2, would ban right-to-work laws -- which limit unions' ability to collect fees from nonunion workers -- and would roll back recent GOP lawmaker moves to take some public employee benefits and staffing issues off the negotiating table.

Passage would give public and private workers in Michigan the constitutional right to organize in unions and collectively bargain contracts. The proposal states any current or future laws limiting such rights would be invalid. Opponents -- including Republican Gov. Rick Snyder -- argue that would make union leaders more powerful than elected officials and erase state and local governments' ability to set employment terms and control budgets.

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Another union-backed measure on the ballot, Proposal 4, calls specifically for allowing home health care workers to unionize.

While the collective bargaining proposal will give Snyder an idea about Michigan's union-rights sentiment, the emergency managers measure will serve as a direct referendum on one of his most-championed initiatives.

Proposal 1 asks voters whether to keep in place the sweeping law that allows the state to appoint managers for municipalities and school districts deemed to be in fiscal emergencies, and gives them authority to dismiss local elected leaders and negate union contracts.

Snyder and others say the law must stay in place so the state can step in to help fix financially struggling Michigan entities. Critics argue it represents a power grab that usurps the rights of local elected officials.

Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville says he and fellow Republicans have a proposal for a law to replace the one shot down by voters, but haven't released details because it's under legal review.

Another of the most intensely debated ballot measures, Proposal 6, calls for changing the constitution to require a statewide vote on plans for any new international crossing.

The proposal is backed by Manuel "Matty" Moroun, owner of the private Ambassador Bridge in Detroit, and came in response to the proposed construction of a government-brokered Canadian-financed bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.

Moroun instead wants to build a new span of his own, and spent millions of advertising dollars to support the ballot proposal, which would not allow the state to spend money on such projects without approval from a majority of Michigan voters.

The remaining measures are:

-- Proposal 3, which would amend the state constitution to require utilities to provide at least a quarter of electricity retail sales from wind, solar, biomass or hydropower sources by 2025.

-- Proposal 5, which would amend the state constitution to require a two-thirds majority vote in the Michigan House and Senate -- or a vote by Michigan residents -- in order to raise or levy new state taxes, or to increase the tax base or tax rate.